Return to Arcadia: Sequel to Kyami
by Chione Jinx S
Summary: She knew she'd been gone too long but she had to finish her tasks or the guilt would eat her alive. The only thought that kept her going was that K-Mart, Ashley and Bee were waiting for her return. *On hiatus*
1. Chapter 1

***I would recommend you read Kyami before reading this.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot, Kyami, Ashley, Bee, Lei and any other character I decide to throw in that wasn't in the movies or the games.**

 **A/N: So I've been getting requests for a sequel, wasn't planning on writing one and I'm honesty not sure what plot it would have but I'm gonna give it a shot. Fair warning, I'm not entirely sure how committed I can be to this cause I'm in the process of writing an original story/book, tho I'm not sure what I intend to do with it yet but if you've read any of my stories you'll know by now that I tend to just go with the flow when writing. Well without further rambling, here's what I've come up with so far. Let me know what you guys think and if I should continue. One love.**

 _Wrapping her arms around her wife's waist and resting her palms on their unborn baby, Kyami relaxed as together they watched the sunset. If someone had told her even a few years ago that at twenty seven she would be married to the love of her life, with a twelve year old daughter, a dog and a baby on the way, she would have told them they were infected and the T-Virus was eating their brain. Now, she couldn't think of anything that would be better than the life she now lived, she was happy and that's all that mattered. Sure she would have loved it if the world hadn't been sent to hell in a hand basket but she knew that if it hadn't happened she never would have found the love she had._

With a gasp Kyami awoke from her blissful dream. Sighing, she rubbed the sleep from her eyes and looked out the window of her room to see that it was still dark out. Shaking any remaining sleep from her eyes, she quickly went about cleaning the room. Some would ask why she bothered to clean up after herself in an abandoned hut but she did it because she knew someday people would be living here again, even if it took her last breath to ensure it. She could hear Jackson moving about as he roused the others; it was about time for them to start making a plan in regards to them moving on. After rescuing the newest members of their group in Australia, the plane they'd been traveling in decided that it had done enough work and had left them grounded in Africa. Silently, Kyami watched as everyone did their part to ensure that breakfast was prepared as quickly as possible, even the children; without intending to her mind drifted to Ashley and how helpful a child she was. She'd tried her best not to think of Ashley and K-Mart too much as the sadness was killing her. She knew she needed to complete her task or she could never live with herself, but the strain being away from her girls was putting on her mind was beginning to become too much.

"Hey Kyami, you're up! Come help with breakfast! The cereal may be stale but it's all we've got." shouted Kate while waving her over to the front of the hut.

"No problem, better something stale than nothing at all" she responded with a small smile.

Soon after starting on her journey three years ago, Kyami had met Kate in Montana when she'd rescued her from a hoard of undead; they'd become best friends after realizing that they shared of lot of the same interests, they'd even gotten close to the point that Kyami had even revealed her role in the outbreak of the T-virus and surprisingly hadn't been judged. For almost two years they had been each other's only human contact until they had found Jackson, his sister Kyra and a few others hiding out in a factory in Colorado. The rest they say is history. The last to join the group were Andrew, Naomi, their son Joshua, Crystal, Paul and their daughter Ainslie, who they'd found hiding out on a small island off the coast of Australia. They'd avoided the undead on the mainland long enough to escape to the island, only to then face the danger of the indigenous animals there that had avoided infection. How they'd survived long enough to have kids and raise them to the blessed ages of eight and seven was a question no one wanted to ask.

So far they were a group of twenty including six children, Kyami did her best to avoid interacting with the children too much, not because she disliked them but because when she looked at them, all she could think about was the daughter she'd left behind. As she watched everyone settle in to have their meal, she started considering their next move. The last read out she'd gotten from their plane before being forced to land was that they were somewhere in Niger, Africa, thankfully she'd been disposing of the undead as they flew over an area, so she didn't have any in the immediate vicinity to worry about. The issue now was getting to another functioning aircraft large enough to hold their entire group, while disposing of the remaining undead in Africa; despite that being only twelve states, it was still a lot of ground to cover, especially if they were going to be traveling on foot for a long period of time.

They'd been at their current spot for two weeks and she knew it was time to move on. Thankfully she'd covered Europe, the American Continents including Central America and the central and eastern parts of Africa before heading to Australia so as soon as they'd cleared the remainder of Africa they could make their way back to Alaska. As soon as the things used for breakfast were cleaned and put away, Kyami called a meeting with the adults of the group while the children when into another room to play.

"Okay, I know there are no undead around here but we're not staying for much longer because eventually we'll run out of food and we really don't want that. Tomorrow I was thinking we could go foraging for as much food as everyone can carry, even the kids and then in a couple days we can start moving. I know that we won't find much here because these villagers didn't seem much incline to modern things but with what we have, it should be enough to keep up for a week, maybe two if we only eat once for the day. Hopefully we'll find a vehicle quickly and then an airplane so we can get home sooner rather than later. Any questions?" Kyami intoned while watching the faces of the group gathered in front of her.

"Well I'm just curious, how do you even know which direction we should go to find civilization? Wasn't the map lost? And as far as I can see we're surrounded by the wild African plains, for all we know as soon as we leave these huts the animals will be on top of us wanting to tear us apart." asked Andrea worriedly.

"I always memorize the maps I use in the event that they're lost. As for the animals around us they won't bother us while I'm with you; that's because of the same reason the undead usually leaves us alone, I'm too scary" Kyami responded with a laugh. "As for the direction we're going, we were heading to the city of Niamey which is about 20 miles west of here based on the read out I got from the plane before it gave up on us, on foot that distance will take us about a week, maybe less if we take turns carrying the younger kids. When we get there we'll more than likely have the undead to deal with but we'll find food, a vehicle and possibly a plane. I say possibly because despite Niamey being the capital of Niger and having an airport, there's no guarantee that any of the planes will be operational. Let's hope and pray that at least one is because if not, we'll have to travel to Abuja in Nigeria by car and I know none of you want to travel that far a distance while encountering an innumerable amount of undead."

"Damn right we don't, so anyone else have any concerns 'cause I'd like us to start searching for food right now if that's okay with everyone? If we get enough food today then we can head out tomorrow and moving up the timeline sounds fantastic right now" volunteered Jackson with a grimace.

With the agreement of all the others, they set out to gather all they could find in all the huts in the small village, what they found wasn't much but as Kyami had figured, along with the food they had left from their stores, it was enough to last them a little over a week, long enough for them to get to Niamey. They spent the remainder of the day fashioning make shift packs for the kids and distributing the food. That night as they settled in to sleep, there was an underlying tension in the atmosphere. The kids, while aware of the danger the undead posted, were excited to be traveling again; while the adults all had an aura of fear surrounding them. Kyami, while not fearful for her own safety, was hopeful that the remainder of the trip home would be uneventful or at the most, without casualties.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot, Kyami, Ashley, Bee, Lei and all other characters I've decided to throw in that weren't in the movies or the games.**

 **A/N: Eh, extremely short but I'm trying. Also I still have no beta so all mistakes are my own. One Love**

It had been three years, three years since she'd touched her, three years since she'd heard her call her name, three years since she had stared into the face of her best friend. Dahlia's anger at Kyami leaving had only lasted a couple months before sadness and grief won the battle. She kept rereading the letter Kyami had left and even though it gave her some reassurance that her friend would return, it never gave her a time span. She wondered why Kyami had felt it necessary to leave, she had hoped that Kyami would see that the compound held all she needed and wouldn't feel the urge to wonder anymore. She vowed there and then that the first thing they were going to do when Kyami came back was sit and have a serious talk about her motives for leaving all the time.

With a sigh, K-Mart got out of bed and after getting dressed for the day, she set about making breakfast for her and Ashley while Bee silently watched her from the mat in the living room. Bee had taken to sleeping with Ashley in her bed but would always join Lia as she prepared breakfast, almost as if the dog knew she could use the company. After heating some beans and chilli, K-Mart went into Ashley's room to wake her, only to find that the now 9 year old was already awake and was in the process of putting on her shoes. She had school today, sure it was only for a couple hours but she loved school and more importantly she loved learning. She missed all the times when her mom used to read to her, the books she read were a lot more interesting and advanced than the ones they had her using in school now but she supposed these would do until her mom got back, which she hoped with all her heart was soon because she really really missed her. She loved K-Mart but even though she was like a mother to her, she just wasn't Kyami, she couldn't cook fish the way that Kyami did and she didn't tuck her in like Kyami did, no one could replace her mother.

K-Mart ran towards the gate as soon as she heard the commotion; out the corner of her eye she could see the children and their teachers sticking their heads out the windows and doors and prayed they would all stay there. As the gates opened, she saw that some men from the compound were carrying another inside who looked injured, after a couple seconds she realized that they were a part of the hunting party which had gone out a couple weeks ago to search for meat.

"What happened?!" shouted Claire to the men in concern as they all made their way to Dr. Lei's office.

"We were attacked!" a man walking at the back of the group replied, looking the worse for wear just as the other non-injured men."

"Attacked by who? The undead?" asked Andrew insistently

"No a fucking pack of wolves! Damn things have been hunting us for the past couple days while we were heading back, when we realized what was happening it was too late, they attacked early this morning, we managed to kill some of them and fight them off but not before Alex here was hurt. They'd circled him and overpowered him; by the time any of us could help they were already on him, we managed to save him though" explained Jake as he helped Alex unto the doc's examination table.

"Alright you guys head on back out of here while I do my best to save what's left of his life. The longer he stays like this, the higher his chances of infection and you'll only get in my way." Instructed Dr. Lei as she began to gather the things she needed. She didn't have to look to know her directions were being followed.

Despite the tension and worry permeating the atmosphere surrounding the compound, which they'd come to name Arcadia as that was the original though fictional town which had drawn them all to Alaska in the first place, there was also a faint joy that the other men had returned mostly unharmed, some had scratches but nothing as major as what Alex was living. As K-Mart went back to the house to finish the work she was doing she said a silent prayer to a god she was sure no longer existed to bring Kyami back to her safely. She knew the woman was just as powerful if not more than Alice but everyone had weaknesses and Kyami was no different.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot, Kyami, Ashley, Bee, Lei and all the other characters I've thrown in that weren't in the movies or the games.**

 **A/N: One Love**

It took them exactly eight days to get to Niamey. When they got there it was almost night-time so they decided to pick a building and set up camp as the city had not yet been cleared of the undead. Being as tired as they were after walking since dawn, the group could barely have their dinner after checking the building they'd decided upon. Within minutes of finishing their food everyone was asleep, everyone except Kyami, who'd decided to take first watch. As she watched the survivors sleep she heard a small sound in the distance, she knew undead were still present here as she could sense them, so after ensuring there were none near their camp, she took off into the city to dispose of the ones she could feel. Four hours later she watched as the last heap of undead burned, she'd decided against waking anyone else for their watch as she knew they were probably a lot more tired than she was and she didn't want to take any chance of an undead wondering near the camp. Now with all the undead disposed of she could rest.

The next day they all set out to find a operational plane or vehicle, no one questioned the lack of undead as they all could tell when they awoke that Kyami had been busy throughout the night as she'd been unusually slow that morning. It took them half the day to find a plane and then another half to locate fuel. They resolved to rest that night and clear the runway the following day. As Kate and Kyami sat around the fire they'd built talking about their plan going forward Kate decided to address the more pressing issues they had.

"Well there are two things at the top of our list right now, one, we need to find some food first thing after breakfast, we can split into two teams, one starts the clearing of the runway while the other searches for food. Two, Kyami you need some rest-"

"I do not need-"

"Yes you do, you were barely walking upright today. And even though you may think I haven't realized, I know you've been giving your food to the kids, so by my count you haven't had anything to eat the last two weeks. You can't do that Ky, I know you think we'll be fine without you but that's not entirely true. We'd be lost without you and not to mention I'd lose my best friend and Jackson and I will probably kill each other without you there to play referee." Kate intoned with a smile "You need to take care of yourself too, not only us, you gotta get back to your girl and your daughter in one piece."

"Yeah, you're right, I just…I don't need food as much as you guys do so I saw no reason to eat as much as you are. Seeing as the undead are wiped out here, I guess I can sleep tonight and you guys can take watch."

"Good cause whether you agreed or not, that's exactly what was gonna happen" Kate said with a laugh.

"Thank you." Kyami said with a small smile

"For what?" Kate asked confused

"For caring"

"Oh honey, you're my best friend, of course I care. I know Dahlia's your #1 best friend but with the upgrade to lover I'm just letting you know that position is gonna now be mine" Kate intoned with a smirk

"Ha, I may love her but how do you know she feels the same, for all we know in her head I'm just the best friend and nothing more."

"Oh please, she probably loves you more than you love her based on everything you've told me. She puts up with you, that's more than some people could say about their wife, much less their best friend. Don't start doubting how she feels about you"

"Doubting? How can I doubt when I really don't know how she feels, you're the one that insists she loves me."

"That's because she does and stop questioning my reasoning, best friends are never wrong when it comes to things like this."

"Fine, but if you're wrong I reserve the right to say 'I told you so' and not talk to you for a week"

"Deal. Now come on, let's inform every one of the plan and you can go get some rest."

No one had any objections to the plan so within a couple minutes Kyami set off to find a comfortable place to rest up. Within seconds of settling down she drifted off to sleep.

 _She ran with everything she had. Her lungs burned because she needed more oxygen and her muscles burned from over exertion. She was tired and she knew she needed rest but she also knew she couldn't stop, not even for a second. Branches from trees along with bushes, smashed into her face, arms and legs as she ran, cutting her and bruising her without any respite. She wanted to dodge them but she knew it would only slow her down._

 _She could hear the footsteps and shouting behind her. He was far enough behind that she knew he couldn't see her but he was near enough that her heart raced with dread. She could see a faint light ahead of her in a knot of trees and vaguely wondered if she would make it. She knew her bare feet were bleeding profusely by then as they weren't use to running on brambles and stones, but she was so concerned with escaping that she couldn't bring herself to care. She released a breath as she burst through the knot of trees into the backyard of a house, she could see the kitchen light on and prayed she'd get help before he caught up to her. She pumped her little legs harder and crashed into the screen door with a force that rocked her little body. She pounded her little bloodied fists on the door with all her might and started screaming for help as she saw someone approach the door with cautious steps._

 _As she heard him burst through the bushes and trees behind her, the woman opened the door while calling out to her husband. Without thought she just started crying with relief as she saw him retreat back into the woods out the corner of her eye, as the woman pulled her into her arms, five year old Kyami's body collapsed out of exhaustion, the last thing she heard was the woman's husband telling the police that they'd found the missing girl._

With a gasp, Kyami awoke and with a sigh she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She slept most of the night evident from the rising sun shining its light through the window above her head. She could tell that none of the other survivors were awake just yet and used the additional time to herself to think. She hadn't had a dream about that time in her life for years. It was three months after her fifth birthday that she'd been kidnapped. She'd been on a shopping trip with her mom, the nanny and her siblings, a man had approached them in the store while her mom and the nanny were distracted, he had complimented her maybe a bit too much, she wasn't sure, but when he'd expressed interest in taking her to buy candy, her sister had told the man to go ahead despite Kyami being reluctant. She remembered looking back and seeing her siblings watching as the man walked out the store with her in his arms. Back then she was at the age where she still slightly trusted her siblings and thought that the things they did to her were always accidents, suffice it to say that day all that naive trust disappeared.

The man had taken her to his car and when she'd refused to stop crying despite him giving her a lollipop he'd gone to the back of the car for something, next thing she knew there was a rag over her nose and mouth that had a highly sweet smell and then she blacked out. The psycho had kept her for two weeks before she managed to escape. At first he'd treated her well, he fed her, kept her in clean dresses and did everything to keep her comfortable. The thing was the more he tried to get closer to her, the more she rebelled; after a while he would hit her whenever she refused to do something and it steadily escalated form there. She'd been planning her escape and studying the routine he kept form the day she woke up in the cabin in the woods so the first opportunity she got, she'd hit him over the head, broke the lock on the door and made a run for it. It had helped that he didn't expect a five year old to be smart enough to escape.

The thing that stood out to her more than the fact that her siblings hated her enough to allow her to be taken was that, the couple she'd ran to when she'd escaped had cared more about her wellbeing than her own parents did. The couple who she'd later learned were named Lucy and Bill Walters, had spent every day she was in the hospital at her bedside. Her parents on the other hand had only visited when she'd initially been taken there after being found and didn't return until they'd needed to pick her up when she'd been discharged. It had only taken the police three days to find the man as she'd been able to describe him accurately for the sketch artist. To this day she still didn't understand why her siblings hated her, she at one point thought they were jealous but threw that idea out the window when she realized they were treated infinitely better than she was, she was the cash cow, and to her parents that was her only purpose.

As the others roused around her, she set about gathering the things to get breakfast started. It didn't take them long to get everything set up and by 10am they'd split into the two groups and set out to their tasks. It took two days get all the supplies they needed for the trip to Arcadia and another day to ensure the plane would get them there, that part took a bit of reading for Ky and Jackson. When they'd finally gotten everything ready, they took one last night to rest up for the trip.

"You ready for this?" Kate asked as she and Kyami helped to pack the last of the supplies before they headed to bed.

"I have to be" Kyami answered with a small smile "Remember though that I'll still have to clean up the rest of Africa before we can head up"

"Yea I know, we've got no problem with that, you just focus in doing your thing and leave the flying to me, well at least until we leave Africa."

"We have all the reserve fuel packed on board already right?"

"Yep, these are the last things we need to put on"

"Okay, well we're done here. Let's go get some sleep"

Kyami had just gotten to the doorway of the room she slept in when she heard Kate quietly calling her name.

"Ky?" Kate called softly

"Yeah?"

"Would it…..can I uhm….could I sleep with you tonight?" Kate asked shyly "I haven't been sleeping all that well lately and I tend to sleep better when I'm near to you and I'll be flying the plane tomorrow with everyone and I don't want to be sleep deprived or anything"

Kyami had never seen Kate acting shy in the three years she'd known her but then again she just as rarely heard her ask for help or admit to any weakness.

"Come on." Kyami answered while holding out her hand to her friend

They laid side by side on the small cot on the floor for ten awkward tension filled minutes. After fifteen minutes when Ky realised that Kate wouldn't ask for what Kyami knew she needed, she turned on her right side and without a word pulled the tense body of her friend into her arms. Within seconds Kate's body relaxed and then began to shake with sobs. It was twenty minutes before she'd cried herself into exhaustion enough to fall asleep. Kyami held her tightly until she fell asleep as well. She was happy she could be there for her friend like this but knew she'd never have the opportunity to release her demons like Kate just did until she got back to Arcadia and K-Mart. The following morning it took the group only two hours to get through breakfast and finish loading the plane. As they flew away from the city Kyami couldn't help the silent thought that passed through her mind 'I'm coming home'


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot, Kyami, Ashley, Bee, Lei and any other character I decide to throw in that wasn't in the movies or the games.**

 **A/N: So this chapter is where this story starts to intersect with the first one so don't be surprised if you see anything that looks familiar. Enjoy, and hit me up with a review or pm. I like feedback.**

Kyami carefully allowed the passenger plane to touch down on the bare plot of land just on the outskirts of the Yukon Territory. Her twenty three passengers, including six children cheered enthusiastically. Other than the people she'd left behind in the compound, they were the last of the human race. Over the space of four years she'd flown to every single corner of the globe rescuing survivors and disposing of undead. Any infected survivor was quickly taken care of in a painless manner. Now she had the last of humanity and they were headed home. As they got their belongings and disembarked from the plane, Kyami wondered how Ashley looked, she would be ten years old that coming November and Kyami knew she'd be a whole lot bigger than she was four years ago. As the thought of K-Mart entered her mind, she quickly turned her mind to other things, she'd hoped her feelings for Dahlia would dissipate while she was away but they'd only gotten stronger. Though that could be attributed to the things Kate kept putting into her head.

"So which direction are we headed? And please tell me we're taking a bus or something because I am not in the mood to walk right now," asked Jackson as he helped his little sister Kyra with her bags.

"Bus huh? And what the hell would you have done if Kyami here hadn't taken care of all the undead? Walking would have been your only option then," retorted Kate snidely

"Well if she hadn't gotten rid of all of them I doubt we'd be here right now," answered Jackson with attitude.

"Hey guys calm down, I know we've been in a cramped plane for hours but jeez, you guys were acting like best friends just a day ago!" exclaimed Naomi in exasperation.

"Not to pop your bubble Jackson but we're gonna have to walk for a while, at least until we reach the nearest town, for as you can see there are no vehicles anywhere near here." Kyami said with a small smile.

"Crap," muttered Jackson dejectedly.

"Or if you guys want I can go ahead and get the vehicle and come back for you," Kyami suggested.

There was a resounding chorus of 'No!' all around. No one knew exactly who or what Kyami was but they were all aware that she was their best hope of survival if they were attacked so no one wanted to be away from her for too long, even if that meant walking for miles in the scorching sun.

"Okay then, let's get moving, if we start now we should be in Dawson by nightfall. That way we can all rest up to begin the journey to the compound in the morning."

That night after finding a motel and an abandoned Greyhound which was surprisingly in good shape, they sat down to their dinner of veal and rice.

"Anyone wanna wonder how that Greyhound got up here in the first place?" asked Jackson

"Hell no, I'm only glad it was or we most definitely would be walking the rest of the way cause there's no way in hell we'd find something else to take us all. All the trucks we've seen were either totalled or rusted beyond recognition and multiple vehicles are out of the question," responded Kate.

"Why would it be out of the question? We'd still get where we were going" asked Crystal curiously

"Sure we would but would you want to be an entire vehicle away from Kyami if something went wrong?" asked Jackson.

"Guys come on. Nothing could go wrong except for a flat tire or a wild animal attacking, both of which can be easily solved. No undead exist anymore, you all know that, and you don't need to rely on me in the event that something does go wrong because you can all take care of yourselves; you did before you met me," stated Kyami with mild irritation. She resented the fact that her companions relied heavily on her for protection. It was as if they'd all forgotten that they'd taken care of themselves for years before she'd found them.

"You have a point but it's still safer being near you," mumbled Jackson sheepishly.

Kyami just shook her head with a small smile. She knew that despite knowing no undead would jump at them from the shadows, they were still afraid. She didn't blame them, she knew the horrors brought on by the outbreak would live on in their minds; it wasn't something that would be easy to forget. After cleaning up the stuff used for dinner, as a group they gathered in the largest room in the building, huddled together and fell asleep.

After breakfast the next day Kyami and Jackson went to check out the Greyhound they'd found the night before. They gave it the all clear after doing some minor maintenance on it, which took almost half the day. The group spent the remainder of the day ensuring they had enough supplies to get them to Arcadia including fuel. It's didn't take them long and deciding to drive through the night seeing as they had more individuals able to operate their transportation, they departed. Early on in their journey they realized that while Kyami could clear the roads with telekinesis, it would still slow them down and she couldn't keep doing it the entire journey as it would drain her. As a result they endeavoured to have the adults manually move the manageable debris while Ky would handle whatever they couldn't. It was on one of these stops to move the debris blocking the road about four days into their journey that they encountered the wolves.

They'd just begun moving the cars and rocks when they heard growling from the woods surrounding them. As Kyami looked up her eyes met ones of the alpha white wolf standing to her left.

"No one move" Kyami said lowly

"What do we do?" Naomi asked fearfully

"There's nothing we can do, we left all our weapons in the bus" hissed Jackson

"Would you guys just be quiet?" said Kyami forcefully "I'm hoping I can get the alpha to stand down if he does the others will fall in line"

The others watched as Kyami remained in a staring contest of sorts with the alpha wolf. It didn't seem to be working as the other wolves kept advancing on the group, some even seemed to be arguing over who would get first bite. After some time it seemed as if the alpha would back down, that was until he released a couple of barks and the wolves ran towards the group. Without a second thought Kyami snapped all the necks of all the wolves except the alpha. The wolf looked around at his pack in confusion for a second before he locked eyes with Kyami; with an anger filled growl he leapt at her, only to promptly fall to the ground when she broke his neck a second later.

"Why didn't you just kill them all from the beginning?" Jackson asked in confusion

"With a world that's just getting back to where it should be, you don't kill healthy animals unless you haven't a choice." Kyami answered as she began moving the bodies off the road.


End file.
